Employees of Minteq in Bryan contributed a total of $11,389.52 to the United Way appeal. With the company dollar-for-dollar match, the total giving to our United Way amounted to $22,779.04, an increase of 9% over the previous year.

Minteq uses a number of incentives including company prizes and vacation days for those giving 1/2% of income, 1% of income and 1 1/2% of income. And, seven individuals at Minteq are leadership givers.

Thanks to employee campaign manager Connie Grieser and all the employees of Minteq for the contributions to this year's United Way campaign.

This year, employees of Bard Manufacturing, Inc. generated $13,382 in payroll deduction contributions to United Way. This is an increase of 45% over the previous year!

The Bard Family Foundation made a corporate contribution of $3,868 to make the total contribution $17,250.

Congratulations and thanks to Greta Perkins, campaign manager, and all of the employees of Bard Manufacturing on a great Campaign 2006.

When Sandra Thiel, campaign manager at the Hicksville Bank in Edgerton, was looking for a special event to generate more money for the United Way, the "pie" was the limit.

Each teller had a fishbowl at their station, and customers were able to "vote" for their favorite teller with their contributions to United Way. After a month, the "lucky" winner would be the recipient of a pie-in-the-face.

Becky Wheeler generated the most money ($432.33), including $110 from one couple, and was rewarded with a pie-in-the-face from Teesha Guillaume, who generated the least amount of money. The photo at right shows the result.

This special event generated $650 for the United Way.

An Ohio State-Michigan raffle helped to generate $320 for the United Way at the Ohio Gas Company.

Nancy Webb, campaign manager, put together some items from Ohio State and Michigan, including throws and cups and raffled them off to employees. Tickets were $5 for an arm's length and all the proceeds went to United Way.

Ohio Gas employees also were able to take a chance on a raffle for donated restaurant coupons. That raffle generated $108

Those dollars are in addition to the $3,278 contributed by employees through payroll deduction. Nancy does a great job personalizing each pledge card with the employee's name and address and previous gift. This helps in tracking the contributions as they come in, but also shows each employee what they have done in the past.

Williams County Public Library employees contributed $1,833.60 to Campaign 2006. Payroll deduction gifts were up more than $600 this year.

Campaign manager Kathy Whitman incorporated a baby picture contest this year in which employees paid $1.00 each to guess which "baby face" belonged to whom.

Kathy reports that next year, they will seek out other "special event" ideas in order to encourage participation in United Way giving.

Have you heard of YOGOWYPI? YOGOWYPI stands for You Only Get Out What You Put In. It's true in life, and certainly true in the world of United Way.

All throughout Campaign 2006, we've been stressing in ATTR how important it is to run a model United Way campaign that includes corporate gift, payroll deduction and special events/incentives. This issue is no exception.

We've seen pie-in-the face, basket auctions, company matches, raffles, vacation days for those who contribute, and more! All of these special events and incentives help to make campaigns much more successful.

Just an extra couple of hours in planning your United Way campaign, and including special events and incentives, will make a huge difference in your company campaign and ultimately in the lives of our Williams County neighbors-in-need.

We've put together a great little booklet that explains what you can do to build a model United Way campaign within your organization. Download it, read it and see how you can join others in simply increasing your United Way campaign.